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H
2
O
2
(1)
Fenton reaction involves several sequential reaction
steps according to which hydroxyl (
OH + OH
(2)
OH + H
2
O
2
H
2
O +
2
HO
(3)
Fe
3+
+
2
HO Fe
2+
+ H
+
+ O
2
(4)
Fe
2+
+
2
HO Fe
3+
+ HO
2
(5)
Fe
2+
+
OH Fe
3+
+ OH
(6)
Electro-Fenton process has been used for decoloration
of single-dye solutions such as Acid Red 14 [18], in-
digo carmine [19], direct Orange 61 [20], Malachite
Green [21] and other dyes [22,23]. Note that only two
recent studies reported removal of mixture of dyes by
electro-Fenton [24,25].
The present work studied the decoloration and
mineralization of mixture of two dyes Malachite
Green (MG) and Orange II from two different group
of triphenylmethane and azo, respectively by electro-
Fenton process. Effect of presence of one dye on re-
moval of another dye and influence of initial concen-
tration of counter dye on decoloration of another dye
were examined.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
1. Chemicals
MG and Orange II were purchased from Merck
(Germany) and used without further purification.
HClO
4
(70%), HNO
3
(65%), NaClO
4
H
2
O and
Fe(NO
3
)
3
9H
2
O were obtained from Merck. NaOH
was purchased from Fluka.
2. Instruments
Electrolyses were performed with a DC power
supply. The cell voltage was determined with a UNI-T
(UT2002) digital multimeter. The solution pH was
measured with a Metrohm 654 pH-meter. The dyes
spectra were obtained by using a Lightwave S 2000
UV-Vis spectrophotometer in wavelength of 484 nm
for Orange II and 619 nm for MG. For GC-MS analy-
sis, a GC system (Agilent 6890) with a 30 m 0.25
mm HP-5 capillary column coupled with a HP 5989A
mass spectrometer operating in electron ionization
mode at 70 eV was used. TOC values were deter-
mined by catalytic oxidation with a Skala-Formics
TOC analyzer. All samples were filtered (0.22 m)
and acidified with HNO
3
, (1% HNO
3
, 2 mM).
3. Electrolytic System
The experiments were conducted at room tem-
perature in an open, undivided and cylindrical glass
cell of 400 mL capacity and performed at constant po-
tential. The commercial graphite felt (thickness = 0.4
cm) with 9.5 cm
2
surface area was selected as cathode.
Carbon is widely used as a cathode material for hy-
drogen peroxide generation because it exhibits a range
of electrochemical activities towards oxygen reduction,
high overpotential for hydrogen evolution and low
catalytic activity for hydrogen peroxide decomposi-
tion [26]:
H
2
O
2
+ 2H
+
+ 2e
2H
2
O (7)
The Pt sheet of 1 cm
2
area was used as anode and
the reference electrode was a saturated calomel elec-
trode (SCE). In all experiments, solutions were stirred
magnetically at 600 rpm. Prior to the electrolysis, pure
O
2
was bubbled for 10 min through the solution. Dur-
ing electrolysis, O
2
was sparged at 20 mL min
-1
. Solu-
tions of 200 mL containing one or two dyes (C
0
= 10
-5
M) in 0.05 M NaClO
4
at initial pH 3.0 were per-
fromed by applying a constant potential of -0.5 V. The
conditions for this work were optimized from the pre-
vious work [27]. The value of pH 3.0 was chosen be-
cause several studies [15,16] have shown that the op-
timum pH for Fentons reaction and production of
H
2
O
2
is in the range 2.8-3.0. Before the study of elec-
Vatanpour et al.: MG and Orange II Mixture Treatment by EF 279
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Time (min)
C
/
C
0
MG
Orange II
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 50 100 150 200
T
O
C
/
T
O
C
0
(a)
(b)
Fig. 1. Removal of an aqueous mixture of dyes MG and
Orange II (C
0
= 10
-5
M of each dye) during electro-
Fenton treatment in the presence of Fe
3+
ions as
catalyst. [Fe
3+
] = 10
-4
M, [NaClO
4
] = 0.05 M, pH =
3 and E = -0.5 V vs. SCE. (a) decoloration; (b)
mineralization.
tro-Fenton process, a catalytic amount of 10
-4
M Fe
3+
was added to the solution.
4. Analysis Procedure
Samples were withdrawn from the reactor at
regular time intervals and the removal of color was
evaluated by simultaneous spectrophotometeric de-
termination using mean centering of ratio spectra [28].
This method has been inspired from successive ratio
derivatives of ratio spectra in two steps. The mean
centering method uses mean centering of ratio spectra
instead of derivatives of them. By eliminating deriva-
tive steps, signal-to-noise ratio is enhanced dramati-
cally.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Decoloration and Mineralization of a Mixture
Containing MG and Orange II
A mixture of MG and Orange II at initial con-
centration of 10
-5
M for each one was treated by elec-
tro-Fenton process at -0.5 V. Electrochemically gen-
erated hydroxyl radicals react with dye molecules
leading to their oxidation. Figure 1a shows a rapid de-
cay of each dye present in the synthetic dye mixture as
a function of time during the electro-Fenton process.
Results show that degradation of MG is faster than
Orange II.
The oxidizing power of the electro-Fenton sys-
tem to mineralize dye solutions was evaluated from
their TOC decay. Figure 1b shows selected TOC-time
plot for the degradation of the mixture of MG and Or-
ange II solution using 9.5 cm
2
graphite felt cathode. A
continuous TOC abatement was observed attaining
79% of mineralization after 180 min of electrolysis.
TOC decay shows that this electro-Fenton system can
degrade and mineralize organic pollutants.
2. Electro-Fenton Degradation of MG and Orange
II in Separate and Mixed Solution
Figures 2a and 2b show the absorbance decrease
at 619 nm (MG) and 484 nm (Orange II) alone or in
mixed solution. The removal efficiency of both MG
and Orange II was altered in the mixed solution com-
pared with the separate case. In the presence of Or-
ange II, decoloration of MG was accelerated whereas
decoloration of Orange II was reduced to some extent
when MG was present. The depression of the absorb-
ance decrease at 484 nm can be attributed to competi-
tive trap of hydroxyl radicals by MG [29] and the ef-
fect of high concentration of pollutant. However, the
absorbance decrease at 619 nm was surprisingly ac-
celerated in the presence of Orange II. It was men-
tioned that some degradation intermediates obtained
from degradation of aromatic compounds such as
quinone-like compounds could expedite the reduction
of ferric ions to ferrous ions (Eqs. 10 and 11) [29-32].
As a result, rate of Fenton reaction was accelerated.
k = 110
9
M
-1
s
-1
(8)
k = 110
9
M
-1
s
-1
(9)
k = 4.410
2
M
-1
s
-1
(10)
k = 4.410
4
M
-1
s
-1
(11)
k = 110
9
M
-1
s
-1
(12)
280 J. Environ. Eng. Manage., 19(5), 277-282 (2009)
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
R
e
m
o
v
a
l
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
(
%
)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (min)
only MG
mixed
(a)
(b)
only Orange II
mixed
Fig. 2. Destruction of dyes by electro-Fenton
degradation of: (a) MG, alone or mixed, (b)
Orange II, alone or mixed. [MG] = 10
-5
M,
[Orange II] = 10
-5
M, [NaClO
4
] = 0.05 M, pH =
3.0, [Fe
3+
] = 10
-4
M and E = -0.5 V.
It can be hypothesized, based on what observed
for Fenton systems, that Orange II or some intermedi-
ates generated in the degradation of Orange II could
accelerate the removal of MG by accelerating of hy-
droxyl radical production.
In order to show whether hydroquinone-like in-
termediates generated in degradation of Orange II or
not, electro-Fenton degradation intermediates of Or-
ange II alone was determined after 60 min electrolysis
by GC-MS analysis. Results were reported in previous
work [27]. It is observed that one of the identified in-
termediates is 1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene. It was re-
ported that ortho-dihydroxy aromatic compounds such
as catechol and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid can reduce
ferric ions to ferrous ions [32,33]. Probably generated
1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene from degradation of Or-
ange II can reduce Fe
3+
to Fe
2+
and therefore, lead to
increasing of absorbance decrease rate at 619 nm in
electro-Fenton process.
Generally speaking, in electro-Fenton system
Fe
2+
is regenerated through the reduction of Fe
3+
in
cathode surface (Eq. 13) and then reduced to Fe
2+
by
H
2
O
2
(Eq. 14). However, at the same time in the pres-
ence of hydroquinone-like intermediates, regeneration
of Fe
2+
is prompted and causing a rapid degradation of
contaminant.
Fe
3+
+ e
Fe
2+
(13)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time (min)
R
e
m
o
v
a
l
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
(
%
)
(a)
(b)
Fig. 3. Effect of one dye on the other: [NaClO
4
] = 0.05
M, pH = 3.0, [Fe
3+
] = 10
-4
M and E = -0.5 V. (a)
Influence of Orange II concentration on MG (619
nm) at [MG] = 10
-5
M; (b) Influence of MG
concentration on Orange II (484 nm) at [Orange
II] = 2 10
-
5
M.
Fe
3+
+ H
2
O
2
Fe
2+
+
2
HO + H
+
(14)
3. Influence of Initial Orange II Concentration on
MG Degradation
With regard to these findings, that Orange II is
source of hydroquinone-like intermediates, investiga-
tion of the effect of the Orange II initial concentration
on MG degradation is examined. Figure 3a shows that
removal efficiency of MG increased by increasing Or-
ange II concentration up to 2 10
-5
M. This effect can
be attributed to more conversion of Fe
3+
to Fe
2+
by in-
creasing of produced intermediates from degradation
of Orange II. However, at higher Orange II concentra-
tion, scavenging of hydroxyl radicals overcome in ac-
celerating effect and therefore, removal efficiency of
MG is reduced.
4. Influence of MG Concentration on Orange II
Degradation
In previous sections, it was observed that ab-
sorbance decrease at 484 nm (Orange II) in the pres-
ence of MG was depressed. Figure 3b shows that by
increasing MG concentration, removal efficiency of
Orange II is lower. It can be attributed to high scav-
: No Orange II
: 10
-5
M
: 2 10
-5
M
: 3 10
-5
M
: No MG
: 10
-5
M
: 2 10
-5
M
: 3 10
-5
M
Vatanpour et al.: MG and Orange II Mixture Treatment by EF 281
enging of